Steel for hawaiian guitars



March 4, 1947. sMlTH STEEL FOR HAWAIIAN GUITARS Filed April 27, 1945 INVENTOR. Fran k Sm ith l.- I, Q

ATTORNE).

Patented Mar. 4, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful im provements in a guitar steel.

More specifically, the present invention proposes the construction of a guitar steel characterized by having two bars, hinged at their top for adjusting the distance between the bottoms of the bars, one of the bars being uninterrupted at its bottom and the other having fingers at its bottom, and spring means for normally urging the bottoms of the bars apart.

rial part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a guitar steel constructed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the steel.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the steel with the bottoms of the bars spaced.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating one operative position of the steel on a guitar.

Fig. 6 is another diagrammatic view illustrating another operative position of the steel on a guitar.

Fig. '7 is a side elevation of a guitar steel constructed in accordance with still another modification of this invention.

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 88 of Fig. 7.

. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a part of the steel of Fig. 7.

The guitar steel, according to this invention,

comprises a bar I0, having an uninterrupted bottom II and hinge members I2 at its top. Another bar I3 is provided, having an interrupted bottom providing a wide center finger I4, a space I5 at one side thereof and a space I6 at the other side thereof, a narrower finger I'I adjacent space I6 and a still narrower finger I8 adjacent space I5.

Bar I3 has hinge members I9 at its top and hinge members I2 and I9 are connected by a pin 20.

Hinge members I2 are spaced, and a U-shaped spring 2| is mounted on pin 29 between hinge members I2, the spring extending between the bars and normally forcing them apart. Each of the bars has one widely curved top corner 22 and one'sharply curved top corner 23. The guitar steel, while preferably made of steel, may be made of any other suitable hard substance.

Slots I5 and I6 are the same length, and each are as lon as one and one-half times the distance between two adjacent guitar strings and are so spaced Ihatwhenthe steel, is held in normal playing position, that is, .at right angles to ,the strings of a guitar, and bar I3 is held so that Zone of. its slots is over a particular string, the

other slot is over a corresponding string separated from the first string by three intermediate strings. This is shown diagrammatically in Fig.

5 wherein the finger l4 covers the second, third 5 and fourth strings of a guitar and finger I'I covers the sixth string, the first string being uncovered by slot I5 and the fifth string being uncovered by slot IS. The strings of the guitar from the first to the sixth are indicated by the numerals 24 to 29, respectively.

The slots I5 and I6 may be in such a position that one string passes under each, so that it is not stopped by bar I3 (Fig. 5) or it may be held so that two strings pass under each (Fig. 6).

The guitar is tuned to a diminished seventh chord as follows: E, Db, Bb, G, E, Db. When the steel is held so that the two bars are over two adjacent frets 30 and 3| and two strings pass untouched under at least one slot, a major sixth chord i produced when all the strings are plucked. For example, if the steel is held so that bar to is over fret 3| and bar I3 is over fret 38 with the slot I5 over strings 24 and 25 and the slot I5 over strings 28 and 29, and all the strings are plucked, the notes G, E, D, B, G and E are produced, forming G 6th chord. By picking strings 23, 27, 26 and 24 but not string 25, the G major chord is produced. By picking strings 29, 28, 21 and 25, but not string 26, the chord E minor is produced. By a proper selection of the frets over which the bars are held, and the strings over which the slots are held, and the strings that are plucked, any major, minor, or sixth chord may be produced in any inversion desired.

In a similar manner, by holding the bars so that they are over two adjacent frets, and by holding them in such a position that only one of the strings passes under one slot, any dominant 7th chord may be produced, in any inversion. For example, if the bars are held over frets 30 and 3 I, and strings 24 and 28 pass under the slots I5 and I6 respectively, the notes, G. F. D. B, G and F are produced, which form the G 7th chord.

By holding the device so that bar III alone touches the strings, a diminished 7th chord is produced. By holding the device in a diagonal position, with only bar I3 touching the strings, an augmented 5th chord is produced. For ex- 50 ample, by holding the steel so that bar I touches the string 29 at fret 32 (the th fret), the string 28 at the 6th fret, the string 21 at the 7th fret and so on, the notes of an augmented chord. are produced.

Other forms of the major and minor chords are possible by holding the bars so that they are separated by two frets and plucking the proper strings. For instance by holding bar I3 over the eighth fret and bar III over the sixth fret with 60 slots I5 and I6 over strings 29, 26 and 25, the

C major chord is produced. By holding bar 13 over the sixth fret and bar l over the fourth fret, with the slots l5 and [6 over strings 26 and 2'! and plucking strings 29, 28, 26, and 24, the G minor chord is produced.

Numerous other melodic and harmonic effects may be obtained by various manipulation of the bars.

It has been found that, due to the variation in widths of the hands of different persons, the solid bar, which is the bar which serves as the anchor during movement of the steel along the guitar wires, may not be of sufiicient height to prevent a persons hands from resting on the wires where the steel is used by a person having large hands. Accordingly a steel is shown in Figs. 7-9 having a solid bar adjustable in height so that the user can adjust it to fit his particular hand. As the bar having the slots is actuated by tilting the steel, it is not necessary to adjust the height of this bar.

The steel of Figs. 7-9 distinguishes from the steel of Fig.1 in that the solid bar I0 is made in two parts Ill and lo w having the hinge parts. Part IE! has a longitudinal groove Ill crossed by two bores Hi threaded at one side of the groove. Part W has a tongue I0 slidable in groove Iii. Tongue W has two slots Ill aligned with bores Hi Countersunk screws [fi are disposed in the bores IE1 and slots H1. The tongue Hi can be disposed at a desired position in the groove Ill and then firmly locked in this position by tightening up of the screws [0 which presses the metal at the sides of groove Iii against the tongue. Thus the height of the solid bar can be adjusted to better fit a persons hand.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A guitar steel comprising a bar having an uninterrupted bottom edge, another bar having two spaced slots in its bottom edge, each slot being of a width suificient to cover two guitar strings, said slots being separated by a finger sufiicient in width to cover three guitar strings and a finger at the outer side of each of said slots and hinge means connecting said bars while permitting relative movement of said bottom edges of said bars there being spring means between said bars normally urging said bars apart at their bottom edges.

2. A guitar steel comprising a, bar having an uninterrupted bottom edge, another bar having two spaced slots in its bottom edge, each slot being of a width sufficient to cover two guitar strings, said slots being separated by a finger spring means between said bars normally urging said bars apart at their bottom edges.

4. A guitar steel comprising a bar having an uninterrupted bottom edge and two spaced hinge lugs integral with its top edge, another bar having an interrupted bottom edge and two spaced hinge lugs integral with its top edge, said first mentioned bar lugs being between said other bar lugs,

- a pin in said lugs hinging said bars together, and

sufficient in width to cover three guitar strings Number a U-shaped spring mounted on said pin between said first mentioned bar lugs, one leg of said spring engaging'the inner face of one of said bars and the other leg of said spring engaging the inner face of the other of said bars, said spring normally urging said bottom edges apart.

5. A guitar steel comprising a bar having an uninterrupted bottom edge and two spaced hinge lugs integral with its top edge, another bar having an interrupted bottom edge and two spaced hinge lugs integral with its top edge, said first mentioned bar lugs being between said other bar lugs, a pin in said lugs hinging said bars together, and a U-shaped spring mounted on said pin between said first mentioned bar lugs, one leg of said spring engaging the inner face of one of said bars and the other leg of said spring engaging the inner face of the other of said bars, said spring normally urging said bottom edges apart, said interrupted edge having two spaced slots, a finger between said slots and a finger at the outer side of each of said slots.

6. A guitar steel comprising a bar having an uninterrupted bottom edge and two spaced hinge lugs integral with its top edge, another bar having an interrupted bottom edge and two spaced hinge lugs integral with its top edge, said first mentioned bar'lugs being between said other bar lugs, a pin in said lugs hinging said bars together, and a U-shaped spring mounted on said pin between said first mentioned bar lugs, one leg of said spring engaging the inner face of one of said bars and the other leg of said spring engaging the inner face of the other of said bars, said spring normally urging said bottom edges apart, said interrupted edge having two spaced slots, a finger between said slots and a finger at the outer side of each of said slots, each of said slots being of a width equal to one and one half times the normal width between two standard guitar strings.

7. A guitar steel comprising a bar formed of two parts, the upper part having hinge parts at its top and a longitudinal groove at its bottom traversed by a bore threaded at one side of the groove, and the bottom part having a tongue slidable in said groove and a slot in said tongue in line with said bore and having an uninterrupted bottom edge, a screw in said bore for locking said tongue at any adjusted position in said groove for adjusting the height of said bar, another bar having hinge parts at its top connected to said twopart bar hinge parts and having a slotted bottom edge, and means for normally moving said bottom edges apart about said hinge as a center.

FRANK J. SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Spina Nov. 19, 1935 Spina Dec. 31, 1935 

